A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
The middle of the fairy king’s three daughters is ordered to marry the herdsman who captured her father. She travels from the sky as a white duck and becomes a woman on landing. Although initially unwilling, she eventually loves her husband; her powers supply their palace, servants, horses and comforts during the prescribed nine years.
At the end of the term she and the magical household disappear. Her husband reaches the gods’ country on a grateful Gryphon and she publicly asks to return with him. The council permits this on condition that she lose her fairy nature and become mortal. She accepts, and they return together to an ordinary comfortable life. The later freely stated choice is distinguished from the coercion of the original bargain.
Origins & earliest records
Tibet; collected historical narrative
Records & interpretation
Full relevant tale and collection preface directly read.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Folk Tales from Tibet
XV, The Story of the Boy with the Deformed Head, pp. 92–102
Family, evolution & connections
The white-drake king’s three daughters in O’Connor StoryXV
StoryXV, pp94–96, in O’Connor’s1906 English collection; no universal Tibetan fairy genealogy is implied.
Scroll sideways to see all branches. With a keyboard, focus the tree and use the arrow keys.
- Unnamed eldest daughter
- Unnamed youngest daughter
Explicit king’s statement and subsequent appearance with his middle daughter. Mother and other daughters’ names are unstated. Bird and fairy forms are identities of the same characters. The collector’s historical translation is the witness; no Tibetan-language original or individual narrator is independently checked.
Unnamed mortal husband (O’Connor StoryXV)
The next-day marriage is explicitly completed. After the nine-year separation, the princess chooses to return to her husband and accepts mortality; the story does not state that they have children.
Unnamed elder and younger sisters (O’Connor StoryXV)
The princess is the middle of the fairy king’s three daughters. The other daughters remain unnamed; a shared mother or full-sibling status is not stated. Bird appearances do not create additional relatives.
Primary records and illustrations
W. F. O’Connor, Folk Tales from Tibet (1906)
XV, The Story of the Boy with the Deformed Head. pp. 92–102
Complete tale and preface read. English fairy/Gryphon labels not given invented Tibetan equivalents. No lion-bodied anatomy inferred. Daughter’s initially coerced and later voluntary choices distinguished.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical tale collectionO’Connor, Folk Tales from Tibet, XV, The Story of the Boy with the Deformed Head, pp. 92–102Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
